Self-reflection as a tool in improving student satisfaction with feedback ?
Jarka Glassey
School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
, Newcastle University
[email protected]
SUMMARY
Dimensions of this case study:
Self-reflection was built into the feed-back sheet of all in-course assessments for chemical engineering students in 2008. This case study researched the perceptions of benefits of self-reflection by 90 undergraduate students (home/ international, stages 2/3) via Student Response System (SRS) questionnaires, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis of feedback comments/marks .
Does self-reflection improve learning autonomy and student satisfaction with feedback?
Context
Student satisfaction with feedback on in-course assessment and the development of autonomous learning habits have been identified as major areas requiring improvement within this School. It was therefore decided to introduce self-reflection on the feedback sheet used by the students during submission of work. A range of methods has been used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data and gather evidence of student reasoning. Students from Stages 2 and 3 took part in this evaluation project and a number of academics using the system also provided qualitative feedback .
Effective feedback in higher education has been a subject of extensive research (Murtagh and Baker, 2009). In particular the role of self-reflection in developing more autonomous learners has been dis-cussed in a range of subject areas (Smits et al, 2009). In engineering, where numerical assessment is fre-quently used, the reflection is often limited to learning logs. We investigated student engagement in the assessment and feedback process by introducing reflective statements students are asked to complete before submitting summative assessment. These provided qualitative and quantitative data on the effec-tiveness of self-reflection. The key research question is whether self-reflection on all summative course assessment in a highly numerate subject area (chemical engineering) improves learning autonomy and student satisfaction with resulting feedback. The key objectives were:
1) assess the value students place on the self-reflection
2) identify the aspects of self reflection and feedback critical for effective learning 3) based on results propose modification for the use of the system in the future
Implementation
The feedback sheet contains the following three questions that students are asked to answer when sub-mitting in-course assessed work:
1) A strong point of my assignment
2) An area which I believe may need improvement
3) I would particularly like your feedback/help with (two specific areas)
When students hand their assignments in, this sheet must be attached, although in 2008/09, assignments were accepted even if students did not complete the self-reflective part. The SRS questionnaire was devised and administered to Stage 2 and Stage 3 students at the end of the academic year. This consisted of questions establishing how often students used self-reflection as well as the relevance of the resulting feedback. At the start of the academic year 2009/10 a focus group of 16 Stage 3 students, working in pairs, used diamond ranking method to answer the following questions:
1) What are the most important characteristics of feedback that help me improve my work? 2 Thinking about the current feedback form, what are the characteristics of the current course feedback system which help me learn best?
The focus group session was followed by a semi-structured interview session with 12 students, using the outcome of the diamond ranking to provide starting point for discussions. Students engaged actively in all three of these methods and provided valuable insight into the impact of self-reflection. In addition, the author analysed over 300 marked assignments from Stages 1-3 to assess the quality of self-reflection and that of the resulting feedback and the final mark.
Discussion of Results
Diamond ranking (left) showed that students believe that specific feedback to issues raised by them in self-reflection is very helpful and thus valued by them, however, they also identified two critical issues:
i) students are still not using self-reflection widely – around ¼ of students admitting to never fill-ing in this section (above, chart b).
ii) a number of academics do not respond to the issues raised by the students. This is supported by
evidence from the SRS questionnaires – in particular for Stage 3 (above, d), where the proportion of students not receiving tailored feedback to their issues is nearly 1/3.
Results of the interviews and the qualitative analysis of the feedback provided to the students confirm that when self-reflection is used, the feedback is more valuable to students. Those students routinely using self-reflection tend to be more satisfied with feedback and also receive higher marks. However, this is not surprising as more conscientious, hard working students tend to fill in the self-reflection sec-tion more frequently and also pay more attensec-tion to the feedback provided. Discussion with academics confirms that those providing tailored feedback prefer this method as they feel they are providing more value to the student and also understand more clearly the concerns of individual students.
Another issue raised by the students was the fact that even if tailored feedback is provided, the charac-ter of individual assessment is so diverse that generic learning from feedback on individual assessment in each module is difficult to identify.
Conclusions
The project confirmed that the students value self-reflection and tailored feedback on in-course assess-ment, although they are not receiving it consistently from all academics and the generic learning be-tween modules is limited due to different character of assessment. In order to improve the system, all students will now be required to complete the self-reflection section before submission (checked by of-fice staff at hand-in). Teaching workshop for academics reinforced the importance of responding to issues raised by the students and academic feedback is also monitored now by the Degree Programme Director. The system will be re-evaluated at the end of 2009/2010.
Project Aims
The project aims to investigate the effectiveness of self-reflection in improving student learning and satisfaction with feedback on in-course assessment in a highly numerical sub-ject area of chemical engineering. Student opinion will aid in developing most effective means of introducing reflection.
Summary of Findings:
SRS questionnaires provided quantitative data that enabled rapid analysis of student perceptions. Diamond ranking pro-vided clearer understanding of the reasons underlying stu-dent perceptions, which were further clarified in semi-structured interviews. The findings directed the adaptations of this scheme for 2009 in terms of new system of work sub-mission and return